1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rotary connector apparatus applied to connect a vehicle body of an automobile and a steering wheel to each other electrically or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a conventional rotary connector apparatus of this kind, there is such a rotary connector apparatus as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, for example. FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the rotary connector apparatus, taken along a direction perpendicular to a rotational axis thereof. FIG. 8 is a sectional view of the rotary connector apparatus, taken along a direction along the rotational axis, which complements FIG. 7. As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, a rotary connector apparatus 101 is mainly composed of a body 103, a rotor 105, a floating spacer 107, and a flat cable 109.
The body 103 includes a bottom cover 111 with which a case 113 is engaged. The bottom cover 111 is formed integrally with a combination switch base 115 fixed on a steering column (not shown). The rotor 105 is engaged with a lower face of a steering wheel, and rotated together with the steering wheel. The floating spacer 107 is rotatably provided in an accommodating space 117 between the rotor 105 and the body 103. The flat cable 109 is wound in a winding space 119 between the floating spacer 107 and the rotor 105 and a winding space 121 between the floating spacer 107 and the case 113. The flat cable 109 passes the winding space 121 from the winding space 119 through inverting pass portions 123 and 125. One end of the flat cable 109 is fixed on the rotor 105, and the other end thereof is fixed on the case 113.
Then, when steering operation is performed, the rotor 105 is rotated together with the steering wheel. According to this rotation, the one end of the flat cable 109 is caused to revolve together with the rotor 105.
When the rotor 105 is rotated in a direction of arrow A in FIG. 7, the flat cable 109 is wound around the rotor 105, and when the rotor 105 is rotated in a direction of arrow B in FIG. 7, the flat cable 109 is unwound. When the flat cable 109 is wound around the rotor 105, the flat cable 109 is pulled in the winding space 119 from the winding space 121 through the inverting pass portions 123 and 125. When the flat cable 109 is unwound from the rotor 105, the flat cable 109 is pulled out of the winding space 119 to the winding space 121 through the inverting pass portions 123 and 125.
In such a rotary connector apparatus 101, when steering operation is performed in a direction of unwinding the flat cable 109 from the rotor 105, the flat cable 109 is forced against an inner periphery of the body 103 to form a space between the flat cable 109 and the floating spacer 107. Then, when steering operation is performed in a direction of winding the flat cable 109 around the rotor 105, the flat cable 109 is pulled to the side of the winding space 119. At this time, the flat cable 109 is moved in a radial direction by the space between the flat cable 109 and the floating spacer 107 to hit against the floating spacer 107. Therefore, it is feared that hitting noise may be caused when the flat cable 109 hits against the floating spacer 107.
And, if the flat cable 109 acquires a bending inclination at the inverting pass portions 123 and 125, when the rotor 105 starts to be rotated in the direction of arrow B in FIG. 6, the flat cable 107 becomes difficult to be moved smoothly at the inverting pass portions 123 and 125 due to the bending inclination. Therefore, the inverting pass portions 123 and 125 of the floating spacer 107 receive a pressing force in a rotational direction at a portion of the bending inclination of the flat cable 109. Accordingly, the floating spacer 107 is forced to rotate together with the rotor 105 at the same speed. Therefore, the flat cable 109 hits against an outer peripheral face of the floating spacer 107 in the winding space 121 such that it is wound thereon, so that hitting noise may be caused. Such a conventional rotary connector is disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-297846.